The U.S. Government breakup of AT&T in 1984 led to a number of smaller companies competing for the telecommunications market. Competition has become intense in the industry and telemarketing became an important marketing tool employed by many carriers in an effort to persuade customers to drop their current carrier and sign up with them. With many customers changing carriers and services, efficiency and cost effective telephony provisioning systems have become increasingly important to the profitability of a telecommunications company. As sophisticated as telephony provisioning systems are on the back end, there remain some marked disadvantages and problems to the front end procedures of the services provisioning process.
Telephony service provisioning has changed rapidly in recent years with more powerful computing systems and advances in electronic data storage. In its very basic form, telephone service provisioning comprises installing live telephone wiring leading from a relay to a structure and assigning a unique telephone number which corresponds with the relay. However, installation of basic telephone services serves as a base to a host of other services made available to customers such as, for example, voice messaging, long distance service, call forwarding, conference calling, distinctive ring, caller ID, call blocking, etc.
In many cases, a customer service request is needed to initiate the provisioning process, but the back end process is largely if not entirely computerized. Depending on the nature of the service request, some manual work or testing may be needed; however, many services may be activated, configured and deactivated through computerized processes. Therefore, while many of the provisioning activities are computerized, the current model for service provisioning still depends on human interaction in the front end to initiate the computerized provisioning transactions.
Relying on human processes for service provisioning usually leads to an expensive, lengthy process which may include documentation and disclosure forms. Conventional servicing, including basic and advanced telephony account options, typically relies on verbal (e.g., human and voice response) and/or written communication. The provisioning process at present involves customers calling (or receiving a telemarketing call from) the telecommunications service provider and requesting a service. This request often generates a work order that is scheduled and acted upon by an engineer or a technician at a later date. Most of the billable features simply involve selecting an option on the customers' line and saving the new configuration via software because telephony networks and switching systems are typically software configurable. Moreover, telemarketing regulation enforcement mechanisms rely on maintaining a “Do Not Call” database which may also be part of a service request.
During the same timeframe as the increase in telephone services, customers have become more accustomed to transacting business over the Internet. Customers are increasingly using the Internet to purchase goods and services, conduct banking, view utility bills, order prescription drugs, and a number of other online offerings. A number of real and perceived advantages to conducting business online exist including, for example, the convenience of 24 hour service, cost savings, fast transactions, and a general feeling that the customer has a greater control over the transaction or account.
Therefore, a need exists for a service provisioning system which is accessible by customers via a network such as the Internet. A need also exists to reduce staffing requirements for customer service agents, thereby reducing costs and providing customers with a highly desirable means to purchase telephony services. In addition, telephony services are needed which do not require substantial human intervention and that may be activated in real-time. Automated provisioning of telephony services may also provide an additional revenue stream for a carrier, in that services managed through a website may be billed at a premium rate or may include a “convenience fee”.